I want a GPS device that I can wear on my wrist so easily see my speed. I'm not interested in uploading my results to a competition website so don't care if not an approved device. I just want to know which board / sail / fin set up is faster, and how fast I am actually going. And maybe track my routes afterwards and see which angles off the wind were the fastest. I have a GT 31, which is useless for that purpose as the screen is so difficult to see while sailing. I'm also interested in a general fitness watch so the Vivoactive HR seems like it can do both without killing my bank account (as nice as the Fenix 3 looks, too pricey).

I remember a thread about the Vivoactive not recording every 1 second so not suitable, but then the HR has updated software so maybe that has been fixed now? Anyone use a Vivoactive HR for speed sailing?

Have you considered a cheap android phone with the GPS-Logit app and earphones. The real time speed chat is brilliant

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John340 said..
Have you considered a cheap android phone with the GPS-Logit app and earphones. The real time speed chat is brilliant

Ideal when it's not so windy that you can't hear the voice.

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Windxtasy said..

John340 said..
Have you considered a cheap android phone with the GPS-Logit app and earphones. The real time speed chat is brilliant

Ideal when it's not so windy that you can't hear the voice.

never been a problem for, me even without earphones, except in the most 'rowdy' conditions. With earphones, even that is not a problem.

Yes you're correct that the new Vivoactive HR now has option of 1 sec recording. And together with the windsurfing data field is great to see the gpstc numbers.

Though I got the Fenix 3 hr who's is a much better watch, more robust and is really not much more expensive if you shop carefully.

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sailquik said..

Windxtasy said..

John340 said..
Have you considered a cheap android phone with the GPS-Logit app and earphones. The real time speed chat is brilliant

Ideal when it's not so windy that you can't hear the voice.

never been a problem for, me even without earphones, except in the most 'rowdy' conditions. With earphones, even that is not a problem.

I USE the earphones. Sometimes I can hear the voice, sometimes not. If it is very windy I cannot.

Oh. And I thought I was deaf. You must be going very fast and rowdy!

Is that inside a helmet? Maybe you just need louder earphones? But with the ones I have, they only work in one ear and it has to be fully lodged deep in the ear for me to hear it. But then I can hear it fine no matter how rowdy the water and wind gets.

Mat is threatening to put 1" waterproof speakers in my helmet though.

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GrumpySmurf said...
Though I got the Fenix 3 hr who's is a much better watch, more robust and is really not much more expensive if you shop carefully.

Thanks GrumpySmurf. I like the look of the Fenix 3 a lot but think the price difference is too much for me. Here in the USA the Vivoactive HR is $250 and the Fenix 3 HR is $600. I haven't seen any online deals on the Fenix but I'll look again.

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>>>

I USE the earphones. Sometimes I can hear the voice, sometimes not. If it is very windy I cannot.

Have you pushed the volume control past the "ear damage" warning?
Some earphones seem more sensitive than others. The blue tooth ones I had could go too loud, but the plug in ones are easy enough to hear if the volume is right up.
The other thing I find, is the earphones have to be right in the ear, if I catch the wires on something and pull the earphones slightly out of my ear, the volume drops considerably.

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decrepit said..

>>>

I USE the earphones. Sometimes I can hear the voice, sometimes not. If it is very windy I cannot.

Have you pushed the volume control past the "ear damage" warning?
Some earphones seem more sensitive than others. The blue tooth ones I had could go too loud, but the plug in ones are easy enough to hear if the volume is right up.
The other thing I find, is the earphones have to be right in the ear, if I catch the wires on something and pull the earphones slightly out of my ear, the volume drops considerably.

I agree Mike. The earphone bud has to be snug in the ear with the volume set on high. I also wear a hat that has side flaps which cover the ears. This really helps hold the buds in position as well as stopping any wind whistling effect. I also use only one ear bud because I like the hear the sound of the board on the water.

John & Andrew,
I know there has been a huge thread on earphones etc but I am old & stupid and would be grateful if you blokes could say the brand & model of the waterproof pouch & the earphones that you use for the GPS Logit phone. I would like to get a set and avoiding the duds would be nice. I can't hear the phone even with it at the top of my arm.

There are a couple of excellent cases around for GPS,
but
for phones, especially to use with earphones, the H2OAudio armband case is in a league of it's own.

It is really tough and durable, has clear plastic for viewing the screen and has an earphone plug and socket. The armband is very good and easy to adjust and the back of the case has a grippy pad to keep it in position.

On top of that, the Alcatel pixie 3 (4") fits perfectly, as do a number of other low cost 4 inch screen Android smartphones. (I would not use an expensive phone in anything near water, no matter how good!)

pictures:











I have a few available. PM me if you want one.

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BRUCE H said..
John & Andrew,
I know there has been a huge thread on earphones etc but I am old & stupid and would be grateful if you blokes could say the brand & model of the waterproof pouch & the earphones that you use for the GPS Logit phone. I would like to get a set and avoiding the duds would be nice. I can't hear the phone even with it at the top of my arm.

Bruce,
I use the H2O Audio waterproof earphones and pouch. The earphones are particularly well designed, they have a moulded head band that hooks over your ears and round the back of your head. The pouch is well engineered. Make sure you get the pouch that has an arm band. The one I bought did not and I'm replacing it.

Yes Phil the vivoactive will be fine !!!

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seanhogan said..
Yes Phil the vivoactive will be fine !!!

+1

DC Rainmaker is widely known as the best reviewer of serious sports/fitness/smart watches:. If you haven't already come across his site, check it out:

www.dcrainmaker.com/2016/05/garmin-vivoactivehr-review.html

Is anyone using this watch on the water yet?

The app that FIN151 developed doesn't support the VivoactiveHR yet, but I've set up a custom ("Other") Activity with Max Speed, Nautical Sped, Distance, Heart Rate. Anybody else have any other datafields that they use or have downloaded?

I've created a few FIT files from walking around but looks like it's using the Smart logging, with GPS-Results showing gaps between 1-5 seconds between data points. Anybody know how to define the logging period? Maybe when sailing (which is faster than walking) the logging period will be reduced? What is the algorithm they use for smart logging?

Cheers

James, I don't use the Vivoactive HR, but the Fenix 3 HR instead. I reckon the Windsurfing *datafields* by FIN151 may work on your Vivoactive HR, just download it and try. FIN151 told me the screen ratio is a bit different so you may not see everything on your Vivoactive HR's screen.

In think there are some confusion of the way Garmin's "app" store works. It is unnecessarily a bit confusing, there are *Apps* such as RUN, SWIM etc which have preconfigured *Datafields* such as speed, distance, time of day etc etc. Then there are *Widgets* which are add on screens such as different Compass, Battery Meters, Weather Forecast which can be added to the main watch screen. Then, there are different *Watch Face* to act as you main watch. Confused yet? It gets worse! Some *Data Fields* could just as well be an *App* and vice versa without the user seeing any difference.

The best approach is to ignore all that, and just do as below (using my Fenix HR, and assuming the Vivoactive HR is not that different).
- Download FIN151's *Datafield* to your watch from apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/b820a772-e335-406a-85b7-2ac6a0e5b61a
- Goto Settings, then App, then Add New. Choose Other. Choose whatever color. Change the Profile Name to Windsurfing. Choose Default Type
- Next, it will ask for GPS type. Choices are ON, Off or UltraTrac. Choose On. UltraTrac is Smart Recording and useless for windsurfing and really only good for very long distance hike or cycle or paddle to save power.
- Now configure the screen. The most basic is on Screen 1, Layout, Choose 1. For Field 1, choose ConnectIQ Fields, whcih should have Wind/Kite Surfing *Datafileds* which you downloaded.
- Then you can either disable all other Screen, HR Gauge etc which will give you just the Windsurf information you want! Alternately, you can customise to whatever you wish.

I noticed that the 2-layout "accidently" works already with the Vivoactive HR. I'll update the up to support also the 3-layout on the Vivoactive HR within the next couple of days. You have to make sure that 1-sec recording is activated and the new activity profile is based on "Other" so that there are no special algorithms for running or swimming on.

I also noticed that the normal Vivoactive now supports 1-, 2- and 3-layouts instead of just 3-layouts, which means that in the 1-layout the big screen can be shown as with the fr920xt for example. This is nice!

Thanks for the responses guys. GrumpySmurf I agree that Garmins terminology is pretty confusing.

In terms of GPS, I only have the options for On, Off or GLONASS which I think is the Russian GPS constellation? No mention of ultra-trac.

I have now added one of FIN151's datafields and it looks like its working, toggling through the 2sec, 5x10 etc. When I add a second datafield, it mirrors the first one. Will hopefully get to try it on the water this weekend.

I think I have bad news for those that bought the Vivoactive HR. According to DC Rainmaker:

"Note though that despite earlier statements from Garmin otherwise, the Vivoactive HR does NOT have 1-second recording rates (uses Smart Recording)."

www.dcrainmaker.com/2016/05/garmin-vivoactivehr-review.html


Smart Recording would be next to useless. So, if you are able to return it, do so now and get the wonderful Fenix 3 HR!

The logging rate isn't too big of a deal for me, will keep using the GT31 as well. Garmin have been doing lots of software updates so maybe the 1-sec logging is a future feature. Fingers crossed.

Oh, if there is no 1-sec recording on the vivoactive HR, then it can be used only as a screen to show the numbers.

Because the vivoactive HR supports just a 2-field-layout and a 3-field-layout, then at least in my opinion the normal vivoactive is more useful because it supports also a 1-field-layout, in which the 2s, 10s and 5x10s and all 5 10s are shown at once instead of just alternating through them.

I made an update that makes it work with the vivoactive HR:
apps.garmin.com/fi-FI/apps/b820a772-e335-406a-85b7-2ac6a0e5b61a

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jamesf said..
Thanks for the responses guys. GrumpySmurf I agree that Garmins terminology is pretty confusing.

I'm pretty tech saavy (work in IT) and it took me a whole day to figure out how to navigate the Fenix 3 menus and DL and setup custom data fields. It's not that intuitive. Suunto is much more user friendly.

what about the Quatrix from Garmin. I've used the first one quite a few times. Only issue was that it didn't save max speed to the file!
It does show you runs on Blue Charts, distance etc & you could even try to follow them again....

I've just bought a Quatrix 2, which is based on the Fenix. A way way way better screen & watch. I've used the sailing app once on a resort board in Langkawi...What a nightmare the boards & sails are. The downhaul & out haul are soooooo tight, like sailing a plank of MDF!

I still haven't worked out how to add the windsurf data fields either, but the above might help.

Ive used it skiing & that was pretty cool.
The big issue is working out how to move around the watch. What button does what. My wife gave me her old Vivo, this does the same & a whole lot more.
Paired to my ski helmet, Uclear, I was able to hear texts arriving & read text messges etc, but got lost with the music controls.
I'm sure it all work, if you can work out the sequence and then next time remember that too!

I used the watch on the water for the first time last weekend at Budgewoi and thought I'd post some comments.

On the water - I configured an "other" activity with Time, Distance, and FIN151's datafield shown on a single page. The datafield from FIN151 cycles through 2sec max, 1 10sec averages (x5), then an average of those 10 sec (ie 5x10 avg). The 2sec peak was very close to the GT31 and the garmin displayed 5x10 was close to what KA72 gave me from my GT31 file.

Logged data - Smart logging has big gaps (5-6 secs). KA72 refused to calculate an alpha. It makes a nice map on the Garmin connect app, but i think until they do a firmware update to log more regularly this is really only useful for on-water feedback.

Day to day watch - its working out really well, the step counter has motivated me to do more exercise during the week, which is a good thing. The notifications from my smartphone during the day work well, athough i wish I got less emails as my wrist is buzzing all day - not my watch's fault! I charged it a week ago and its on 40% battery, so that has been good as well.

Overall I'm really pleased with this watch for the price I paid. I bought it as an everyday fitness watch that I could wear on the water. Hope this is helpful for anyone else thinking about getting one.

When I used it last weekend I was running firmware v2.60.

Looking around online tonight I saw there is a new Beta out - v2.74

www8.garmin.com/support/nosoftware.jsp

Among the features added is "Added per second recording" - yee ha. Downloaded it, and there's now a setting to enable 1 second recording. Walked around outside and confirmed that the FIT file now has 1 second data points.

So, this might end up being more useful than expected. Can't wait to try it again on the water.

Thanks for everyone's help. I've downloaded FIN151's data field and the beta software for my Vivoactive HR and set up the "other" activity. All seems to be working well, now I just need wind to test it.

HI!
Do you think that Vivosmart hr + (have a GPS) works like Vivoactive to track my windsurf session?
Thank you in advance!

Hi It'll work even better as the HR records every second instead of 5 sec for the vivoactive

Hi All,

I am considering getting the new Garmin Vivoactive 3 as a smart watch for normal use (I am after a smart watch that can do some workout recording but is light and has good battery life), and I am wondering if anyone knows how it would go for Windsurfing use? Can it be configured with the windsurfing app and record data at an appropriate rate?

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vosadrian said..
Hi All,

I am considering getting the new Garmin Vivoactive 3 as a smart watch for normal use (I am after a smart watch that can do some workout recording but is light and has good battery life), and I am wondering if anyone knows how it would go for Windsurfing use? Can it be configured with the windsurfing app and record data at an appropriate rate?

Hi Adrian,
found this old post: www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Gps/Setting-up-Garmin-vivoactive-HR?page=1
I don't know the watch, but only very few devices are accepted for posting to gpsteamchallenge. It has to be approved by the committee.